US Navy's new facility to advance submarine-launched Trident II missiles

The US Navy has initiated construction of a new Engineering Test Facility (ETF) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to support the development and modernization of the submarine-launched Trident II D-5 Life Extension 2 (D5LE2) missile system. Awarded in November 2025 to Walsh Federal for $166 million, the 130,000-square-foot facility is slated for completion by January 2028. It will house multiple labs, heavy-lift cranes, and support spaces to enable prototyping, testing, and production of flight hardware and support equipment for the next-generation Trident II missiles. This development follows recent successful test flights of unarmed D5LE missiles from Ohio-class submarines, underscoring the system’s reliability and accuracy. The Trident II D5 missile system, originally developed in the 1980s and life-extended in 2017 to remain operational into the 2040s, is a critical component of the US nuclear triad’s